Victor Cohen
Would you ever use a basketball to play baseball? Would you ever use a hammer to push in a screw?
Sure, with enough effort, it could work, but those clearly are not the most optimal tools for the job.
These days, we use our phones for just about everything. With access to the Microsoft Office Suite and Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets right at our fingertips, today’s phones act more like mini-computers than actual communication devices. That’s not to mention social media, the access to recently-developed AI tools, and even video games. We can do anything from our phones that we could do on our computers. But in this world of increased accessibility, is anyone stopping to ask whether we should do everything from our phones?
One morning, you happen to wake up at 3am. The first thing you do is check your phone. You look at your emails, check your messages, and WhatsApp group chats, and then, right before you’re about to go to sleep, you open up YouTube. The next thing you know, it’s 5:30am, and you begin the next day thoroughly exhausted, unable to be productive at all. Having access to everything from your fingertips is nice, but not when it costs you valuable time and disrupts your day.
Unfortunately, modern technology is marching towards an endgame of maximum immersion, and maximum reliance on phones. That means more hours spent online, and less hours devoted to better pursuits, like family, learning Torah, and other important activities. But while the big phone companies are intent on squeezing more hours from you, the Fig Phone takes the exact opposite approach, saying that sometimes, less is more.
The “Kosher” Phone & the Fig Phone
Over the past three years, the Fig Phone has pushed a sleek, viable, and serious alternative to today’s modern phone addiction. I had the opportunity to interview the Fig Phone’s founder, a product of our community in Brooklyn – who requested to remain unnamed – to learn more about how the Fig Phone got started, some of the philosophies underlying its design, and where he sees the Fig Phone heading next.
According to the founder, the Fig Phone came into being as a reaction to traditional “kosher” phones, which he first encountered in Israel. A “kosher” phone, for those unfamiliar, is a phone which is wiped clean of any distracting or addictive content – which modern companies increasingly throw into their devices to keep you hooked. People make the mistake of thinking phones are passive, just something kept in the pocket which you can then pull out to use when the need arises. But the unfortunate truth is that modern phones are active. The algorithms within these devices actively work to keep you hooked, encouraging prolonged use and even addiction. Kosher phones are a great first step in fighting back against the pull of modern algorithms, allowing you to take back your time and reduce the phone’s centrality in your life. The founder loved the concept, and wanted to bring it back into America.
Unfortunately, he confronted two issues. The first was that some of the technology simply did not work here in the United States. Too many service issues, software and hardware bugs, and other technical problems arose in devices brought from Israel to America. The second problem was that the “unkosher” phones could be found easily online, and they looked identical to the “kosher” ones, so it was easy for people to pretend to have a “kosher” phone when really they held something which was anything but.
A Tool, and Just a Tool
Setting out to solve these problems, Fig’s founder came to the conclusion that the only permanent solution was to design something completely different. Instead of buying phones and “koshering” them, he would instead create his own phone, from the ground up, which was, as he put it, “born kosher.” This would be the Fig Phone.
“The Fig Phone is a personal communications device,” Fig’s founder explained. He elaborated that whereas modern phones offer so much more than communication, and are specifically designed to take over a person’s life, a phone should really be just a tool– a very important tool– but nothing more than that.
“You wouldn’t bring your laptop to the dinner table,” the founder said. All that functionality which modern phones offer might be great, and exceedingly useful, but it blurs the lines between work and home. If you have access to everything at all times, then that access tends to disrupt the normal course of life, and gets in the way of all the important things. The Fig Phone is built to help you use it less often, so you can focus your attention on what really matters to you.
The Fig Phone offers users a great deal of flexibility. Some adopt it as a standalone device, completely replacing their smartphone. However, many prefer designating it as their primary personal phone, and reserving their smartphone for work. The idea of carrying two phones might seem daunting, but this isn’t what’s happening. The user has just one phone, and a separate device for work, much like people owning both a laptop and a smartphone which serve different purposes.
This is part of a rapidly growing movement toward reducing the use of phones as the “go-to device,” and relegating them to secondary devices.
The idea behind the Fig Phone is that it remains a tool used for specific purposes, without taking over a person’s life. To this end, it is very simple to use. Much of its operation is intuitive, allowing for an easy transition for many modern phone users.
Ongoing Innovation
Everything about the Fig Phone – including all its applications, the software, hardware, operating systems, and design choices – was built in-house, from the ground up, with rabbis advising the developers at every step of the process. One important design choice made at the advice of the rabbis was to make this device a flip phone, rather than the more prevalent “bar phone.” This was done so that the Fig Phone would be easily discernible and stand out. Furthermore, as the founder explained, snapping a phone shut has a more “nostalgic” feel than simply pressing a button to end a call. Indeed, many users have mentioned that there’s something incredibly satisfying about snapping a phone closed after finishing a call.
As all of Fig Phone’s apps are designed in-house, third-party developers have no access to its software, Fig Phone keeps everything tightly regulated inside a closed system. The founders receive lots of feedback from users as to which in-house apps to develop, which features to add, and anything else that users might find useful.
“People sent in requests for apps, asking if they could put in this or that,” Fig’s founder said.
This feedback-based approach has led to much innovation on Fig’s backend.
For example, the device comes with a very good camera, which is among the important tools on smartphones today. Another point of focus was ensuring that the Fig Phone was a touchscreen device, a must-have considering how ubiquitous touchscreen devices are today.
Recently, Fig tasked its developers to integrate Android Auto functionality, allowing users to conveniently use Waze on their car screens, giving their phones an extra dimension of utility.
Throughout the process, Fig Phone continually innovates and develops what they have, making it better than before, improving with each iteration and update.
Current and Future Fig Offerings
The company’s flagship model is the Fig Flip II X. With a 13 MP camera, simultaneous onscreen and T-9 keyboard, great battery life, and even Waze Navigation built-in, this phone is designed for enduring performance and efficient functionality. It is good at simply being a phone.
The Fig Flip Mini II offers similar functionality, but is just a smaller, more compact model.
The important thing about the Fig Phone is less what it offers than what it does not offer. It does not have the ability to download harmful apps or access addictive websites, such as social media sites. The device is built wisely and economically, aimed at providing its primary function rather than trying to suck you in and get addicted. It works for you, not against you.
When asked about future avenues Fig was looking to explore, Fig’s founder mentioned that while they continue to upgrade their devices to keep up-to-date, they are also looking to expand. A Fig Tablet, for instance, is in the pipeline. Another exciting project in the works is the Fig Beat– a fully offline MP3 player inspired by the original iPods. This device will feature the user-favorite click wheel, an iconic design which everyone loved from the classic iPods. The company has big plans to expand the Fig ecosystem, bringing more devices into the closed system of the Fig family.
The Fig Phone, growing in popularity, will continue to zig while the entire industry zags, and in doing so, might find more and more users who are fed up with the distractions, and simply want a phone.
Check out the Fig Phone at figkosher.com. Sometimes, less really is more.
